Y’know, it always warms my heart when a bad movie has the absolute stones to end their movie with a caption saying something to the effect of ‘IS THIS THE END?!’ implying that a sequel is all but guarenteed. Its a mindset that brings with it such a sense of reassurance about its own future, that I cant help but crack a grin when I look into it and find that either a sequel DID happen, but was a ‘clean slate’ restart BECAUSE that initial film was so bad…or that no sequel ever materialised, as is the case with ‘Curse of the Fly’.

This is the final entry in the original ‘Fly’ series. and It just…really did absolutely nothing for me. This entry is only very tenuously connected to the first two films, and whoever wrote/directed/managed continuity for this series really didnt do their homework at all, because this entry is set far FAR into the future and introduces Henri and Martin Delambri…who are these guys? Well; Henri is Andre (the original fly pod creators) OTHER child, who we have LITERALLY not heard of or seen up until this point. and Martin is Henris son. We’re getting quite far removed from the original events.

This film was entirely shot in England, and only really exists because Producers Robert L. Lippert and Jack Parsons had some extra cash in their pockets, a dormant franchise they’d kind of wanted to pull out of storage and a dozen or so actors working on other projects for them, who had free time to spare…So they got Don Sharp in, gave him ZERO steerage beyong telling him they wanted him to make a ‘Fly’ movie, and when he asked for more information to help give him SOME steerage on what the hell they ACTUALLY wanted. They allegedly just slapped the guy on the back and said ‘You handle it kid.’

And…this is the result; an 86 minute garble of a movie that really feels less like a ‘Fly’ film, and more like a badly orchestrated generic ‘Monsters crash the Pyjama party’ type feature that…even at only 86 minutes, long outstays its welcome…THERE ISNT EVEN A FLY MAN IN THIS MOVIE…WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING CHRIST IS GOING ONE?!!?

So; the film opens with a woman escaping in her underware from a mental hospital, where shes found on the roadside by a chap named Martin. Martin tries to coax the woman to go with him, and at first shes reluctant, but eventually agrees because…shes almost naked, its autumn in the UK…and a girls gotta eat.

And apparently, thats all it takes to start a relationship in 60s England. Because only a scene or two later, the womans revealed her name is Patricia and her and Martin are having a nice expensive dinner at a hotel, and Martins offering to pay for her to have a room.

And its here really that the ‘fly’ element of this movie is revealed almost entirely…Martin is the grandson of Andre, who built the original fly pod, and him and his dad Henri have been working on ‘perfecting’ the transportation pod, and its basically almost ready to go! they’ve demonstrated that they are able to transport people between the US and London, and once they’ve found a way to stabilize the process it should be good for domestic shipping! What issues still need to be worked out? Well…it turns out that regular use of the transport pods can cause irriversable cellular degredation…basically necrosis but over your whole body…Oh! and also, if ANY kind of living matter gets into the pod with the traveller, even bacteria…the traveller has a high risk of permanently transforming into a creature beyond the comprehension of our wildest horrors…So y’know…no big.

Its also revealed at this point that Henri has suffered some degree of degredation, with his back being horribly scarred and deformed. and Martin…SOMEHOW, has a recessive genetic mutation from his grandfather, which means if he doesnt get regular injections, he slowly starts to turn into a fly man…Which really only borks the continuity even harder because it means that Helene from the first movie had to have boinked the fly man because…theres no other way Martin could have inhereted fly genes…but the BIGGEST crime this film commits (and I am SAVING you here from an hour and 26 of cinematic loitering) he DOESNT EVEN TURN INTO A FLY MAN…AND NO FLY MAN/MEN ARE IN THIS MOVIE.

Anyway; the bulk of the film is basically Martin and Patricias blossoming romance, continued experimentations with the transfer pods, and a subplot in which Burt Kwouk and a woman in ‘yellow face’ play housekeepers to Henri who have a stable full of deformed mutant transfer pod failures in the back yard, that they feed scraps to, and who inevitably eventually break out to cause mahem.

The first half of the film is more romance driven with science fiction elements, and the back end is basically a walkthrough of a haunted house, as Patricia slowly discovers for herself the horrors Henri and Martin have created, and the untold risks they’re working with in trying to perfect teleportation…and somehow between the racism, lack of fly people and low budget fawning…they STILL manage to make a film that fails to really do anything it sets out to achieve.

This entry in ‘The Fly’ series was, for a time notoriously hard to get a hold of, only recieving a DVD release (its first release since its theatrical run) as late in the day as 2007. and at first you may be inclined to think this was an overlooked entry that may hide hidden treasure…but you’d be wrong, it likely didnt get a release, because it just isnt really all that interesting or good.

The scripts painfully slow, we spend way too much time bogged down in technical jargon, arguments between Henri, Martin and his team, the romance plot with Patricia and Martin, and a weird B-plot in which Patricia lies to Martin, claiming she was in the mental hospital looking after an elderly writer, only for it to IMMEDIATELY be debunked about 10 minutes after its said when a woman turns up claiming she was committed after a mental breakdown caused by the death of her parents…and that plot point, goes. NOWHERE.

I suppose its here to try and give the audience the sense that this is a fragile woman who shouldnt be shacking up with a scientist who’s slowly turning into a fly unless he gets his injections, who has a stable filled with mutations…But the two plot points are never really connected. Or rather, the way Patricia as a character reacts when she finds out everything thats been going on, is no different to how anyone would probably react if they found out what was going on…In fact, at multiple points through the film, they make it VERY clear to stress that she’s ‘Much better now…’ So I dont even really know WHY they bothered in the first place.

the tone isnt all that clear, the other films were campy horror efforts with a sci fi twist, this? this seems to WANT to be a romance, it kind of wants to be a creature feature, but doesnt seem to know how best to approach it, the sci fi elements feel a bit laboured. I dont know what it really wants to do, it cant seem to definitively pick a lane honestly.

The core cast are kind of well defined. But they arnt really as likeable or interesting as the first two films, and it feels like nowhere near enough care was given to them in terms of getting to what their character arcs and needs were… Not to mention that the continuity issues really dont help either. It probably would have been better to have made this a clean break, and had it just been about two scientists who stumble on Andres work and try to make a go of it, rather than tying it back into the original films, because all that does is really muddy the timelines. whether its finding out Andre had hidden children, Helene bonked the fly man, or that, becuase they didnt check the continuity hard enough, a still they claim is a photo of fly man Andre, is in fact a grown up Fly Man ‘Phillipe’…which creates EVEN MORE continuity issues.

The dialogues naff, the act structurings wonky, it really does feel like a production that was made, simply because there were scraps and a bit of cash left over from other films…and while there are a couple of okay moments VERY heavily spaced out…its ultimately not enough to keep my attention fully on the movie.

The direction too is overly safe, while it is nice to see the special effects make a return after the last films overreliance on cutaways and stock footage, it again really isnt enough to save what is really a quite flat, low effort, ‘safe’ production. theres no zeal here, nothing that made me sit up and take notice. it borrows elements of the original ‘Invisible man’ and elements of ‘The Tingler’ in places, but its a film made in 1964/65 that feels like a film made 10 years prior. The original ‘Fly’ movie, for its time felt ahead of the curve and unique. This by contras somehow feels less developed and more regressive than the original.

Same goes for the cine, its all flat lighting, wides and mid shots, no real experimentation with the cine, the angling. Theres minimal B-roll, the whole thing just feels SO dead visually. The way this film is shot makes us as the audience feel like observers to whats going on, rather than thrusting us into the action. everythings kept at arms distance, and when you shoot a whole movie that way, it makes it VERY hard for the audience to really engage in the piece. Not to mention the edit is a bit rough around the edges with some shots running for way longer than they should an some cuts happening too soon or too late.

Performance wise? theres just…nothing really here to get excited about. Both Carol Grey and George Baker as Patricia and Martin are jsut about fine…and thats the BEST performance in this thing…When your BEST is ‘just about fine’ its not looking good…and what we have here is a supporting cast that just, feel so not bothered to be there. Even Burt Kwouk, who I was particularly excited to see in the opening titles, gets a quite minimal role, and doesnt really get much on screen presence beyond running from room to room and the occasional, quiet line delivery. Its a very uninspiring range of performances here with very low energy and almost no enthusiasm or naturalism for the lines being delivered.

I still cant quite get over the fact this films called ‘Curse of the Fly’ and theres no Fly man in it. This is basically just a hokey romance film with a monster movie duct taped to it. its slow, uninteresting, dry at times and absolutely is NOT what I come to a movie like this for. Only watch this one if your a completist and want to see the trilogy…Otherwise give it a wide birth and just stick with the first 2 fly films and the Cronenberg remake. This ones really not worth your time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/curse-of-the-fly/

After the success of ‘The Fly’ it would be less than 12 months before the (pretty much) inevitable sequel hit screens. And, well…mixed bag is probably the best way to frame what you’ll be getting into if you choose to check this one out.

For a starters ‘cinescope’ colour are out and we’re back to black and white for this entry, as we jump forward in time AT LEAST 10-15 years from the first film. And we open with the funeral of Helene who, after 10 years of trying to process the horrific events that led to the death of her husband Andre took her own life. Francois has become something of a mentor for their son Phillipe, and after being hounded by the press over events Phillipe knows very little about. Francois decides now is probably the best time to set the record straight about what killed his parents.

Taking him down to Andres old lab, Phillipe is fascinated by his fathers work and feels compelled to pick up where his dad left off, much to Francois protestation. It doesnt take long for Phillipe to hold back no longer, and on headhunting one of Francois’s top men, Phillipe reopens the lab and begins the experiments once again. Only this time, Francois catches on fairly early as to whats going on and essentially says ‘Well. If I cant stop you from doing this, i’ll at least join in and try to protect you where I can.’

The experiments make great progress and it looks like the team are on the verge of making some significant inroads on the process. But it doesnt take long for things to sour, as Phillipes business partner Ronald, makes a back room dodgey deal with a rival company, promising to steal and sell the details of this transportation device AND get Phillipe out of the picture for a decent sized pay off.

And from there, there are altercations…one thing leads to another and another ‘Fly Man’ is created who goes on the run for a bit…you…you can already see where this is going.

An uninspired sequel to 1958’s ‘The Fly’ but not an uninteresting one. ‘Return of the Fly’ is essentially every Universal monster movie sequel refined to a limber hour and 20.

The script is a bit of a game of two halves. On the one hand, I like that they open the film with a brief recap, and then get stuck right into getting fly people wandering about. The last film drove more on suspense and thrills, where as this is a more traditional monster movie. The problem is, our Fly man…doesnt really do very much…rather; he just sort of bumbles about until he’s recaptured. Living just long enough to kill a couple of people for plot purposes…

the pacings much more spry than the first film, but with that comes uneven tonal moments, the film cant seem to decide how much horror it wants to put in vs how much of a thriller/suspense picture it wants to be. And the result is a film that feels in places a little undercooked, and at times a bit rushed. The Characters dont seem as well developed, with only Francois really being retained from the previous film, and he spends a not insignificant chunk of the runtime in a hospital bed (an easy paycheque for Vincent Price)

The film does end satisfactorally, and the story its trying to tell is fine enough, but this very much feels like a film that rushed into production to try and strike while the iron is hot, and the end result is a film that just doesnt feel as fun or interesting as the first film. It instead feels like a film thats just trying to do more of the first films schtick, but now with a slight twinge of desperation to keep people in their seats.

The direction is also a bit less interesting, the loss of colour for this feature is a major hit to the production, but the special effects budget has also taken a hit, this kind of works in the films favour however, ecause the production cost slump really makes some of the practical effects noticably corny.

Theres less experimentation, less interest in doing interesting things with the lighting or cast placement. A lot of this film is just the cast sat at tables or desks, or stood next to beds…Its a functional work, but I dont think its one that would be standout and reflective of its genre.

Same goes for the cine, the height of experimenation for this feature is some slightly dutch angles…thats the bar. Theres a reliance on stock footage to smooth over a lot of cracks. and while i’ll absolutely say the lab scenes here, for my money look nicer than those from ‘The Fly’ again, that lack of colour removes such a level of dimension from the production, that the whole thing ends up feeling rather drab and clinical…and not intentionally so either.

Add to this that the cast here just…arnt as lively or interesting as the first film, with Brett halsey as Phillipe mustering and enthusiastic physical performance, but not really anything i’d say was notably standout. And. David Frankham as Ronald just about cutting the mustard as our antagonist for the production…It comes to something when Vincent Price is the best part of this movie, and he doesnt really even do much.

All in all? If you just finished ‘The Fly’ and were ‘Buzzed’ for more of the same. This is quite literally that. it doesnt take things to the next level, it isnt trying to do better than the first film. if anything, its a sequel that largely holds position steadily just below the first film quality wise. If ‘The Fly’ is a great creature feature movie of this period of time, ‘Return of the Fly’ is a passably okay way to kill an hour and 20. temper your expectations, and im sure you’ll be fine.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/return-of-the-fly/

‘The Fly’ is kind of like the Sedan or Porsche of the ‘Creature Feature’ genre. A film thats effortlessly smooth in its execution and doesnt pull punches in its plot twists. I had grown up with the Cronenberg remake for years, with only ‘The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror’ giving me any kind of a glimpse as to what the original version had to offer. But! a couple of years ago, I finally picked this one up on google movies, loved it. and when Scream Factory was having a boxset clearence sale a year or so ago, I lept at the chance to nab this on physical media. and im very glad I did!

The film is largely shown via flashback, but we open in the present day as Francois Delambre (Vincent Price) is called urgently in the night to his printing company. A cleaner has spotted an intruder on site using the hydraulic presses, and it appears theres been a murder. Francois rushes to the scene and is utterly beside himself to discover the intruder is non other than his sister in law…and that the body discovered mashed into the press, is non other than his brother Andre.

The police corden off the scene, and his sister in law Helene is taken back home in a state of shock and advised to bedrest. But something is off with her, shes incredibly jittery whenever flies buzz into the room, she’ll leap out of bed and inspect them, scream in terror if the house staff try to kill them, and wont tell anyone any details of what happened leading up to her and her husband being found at the press facility.

Francois tries to get to the bottom of things, but isnt having much luck, until Andres son Phillipe tells him about a strange fly he caught that had a white head. Francois speaks with Helene and eventually convinces her that hes captured this fly, something Helene is relieved for as it’ll help explain everything…after some pursuation, Francois manages to convince her to tell him what happened.

At which point, we flashback for pretty much the rest of the movie. as we see Helene and Andre living a happy life together, Andre is working on an experimental transferrence machine. something that can move an object from one pod to another with near enough 1:1 accuracy…with the only downside being it appears to mirror the object on transfer.

After an accident in which the family pet is transferred, Andre becomes obsessed with the idea that these pods could be for much more than just moving objects from one space to another. This could open up a whole new world in which people could be transported halfway around the planet in an instance. And so he throws himself into his work, desperately trying to figure out the mathematical possibilities of transmitting a person…with terrifying consiquences.

This is one of those movies that I kind of forget about from time to time, but every time I revisit it, I cant quite believe how smoothly it goes down. The script is a little on the slow burn side, and the creature feature element doesnt really become truely prominent until the third act, but its the characters really that help keep this thing floating along. and between Vincent Prices ‘Francois’, Patricia Owens ‘Helene’ and David Hedisons ‘Andre’ we find several likeable, complex characters with nicely interwoven relationships that the film explores with a decent amount of depth.

While the pacing is a little slowburn at times, the act structuring is superb, the transitions between the acts are almost faultless and the ending of this film is probably one of the most bizarre and shocking twists to come out of the ‘creature feature’ age. The dialogue is charming, the tone for the time would have been outright horror, but as this films aged its definitely taken a more campier tinge to it that I feel really helps seal the deal for me.

The direction is razor sharp, with some really decent lighting setups, solid camera work and some beyond decent experimentation with special effects. Do I think this is a distinct work? I cant say that Kurt Neumann made something here that only he could have made. But what I can say is there are definitely distinct moments here, that wouldnt have been some peoples immediate ‘go to’.

The cine is decent too with rich and lavish colour usage throughout, clean crisp sequences that use a good range of shot types and b-roll. and the edit, again while maybe just a bit slower than i’d have personally liked, is still a sturdy work that gives the audience what it came to see. I really liked it on that front.

In a nice change of pace, Price here is playing a good guy as Francois, and I always enjoyed it when he did take on ‘good guy’ roles, as he seemed to play them with a kind of wide eyed innocense and shock that runs a nice contrast to his usual more villainous roles. But credit also has to go to Patritia Owens as Helene, who manages the, not at ALL easy task, of playing a character that is percieved to be crazy, but is actually telling the truth. Its common in a lot of fiction for that type of character to exist. But they’re usually being played as clearly insane anyway, they just so HAPPEN to be telling the truth. Owens here comes across as earnest, but anxious. Like she knows people will think shes mad, but that she knows whats ACTUALLY happened. It gives her performance a rounded quality that you dont often see, letalone in this era of monster movies.

The rest of the cast dont dissapoint either, with Herbert Marshall as Inspector Charas briging a stoney solumness to the film, as someone whos seen murderers lie before, and cant quite take what he’s seen here. along side the other cast members who bring a decent physicality to the role.

I really do have a soft spot for ‘The Fly’ I dont know how seriously audiences took it back in the day, but to modern viewers, this is a campy horror film with some goofy effects, and genuinely shocking plot twists that stay in your mind LONG after the credits have rolled. Definitely a good introduction picture for someone looking to get into ‘Creature Feature’ cinema. Its charming, accessable, very well made for the time and I had a blast checking it out.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-fly/1/

The third feature on Criterions Tod Browning sideshow triptic, I feel a bit unfortunate towards the mystic, im assuming its a fault on my part. But I just couldnt quite get my head around some of the plot of this film.

The basic premise is that a family group of ‘Travellers’ in Hungary, regularly perform a stage show, the central act of which involves the families only Daughter taking on the stage persona of ‘The Mystic Zara’. pulling off seemingly inexplainable acts of fortune telling and seances. The troup notice however that a man in a suit has been on the fringes of recent performances watching very closely. And after one appearence too many. The troup plan to jump the guy to find out why he’s stalking them.

It turns out that he’s Michael Nash, a VERY wealthy businessman whos taken strong interest in Zaras abilities and wants to showcase them to the aristocricy of New York…The troup readily agree, but the problem is…Zaras a fake, in fact the entire act is an elaborate staging of fake panels, peppers ghosts and wire work. But the gang make it work in a New York ballroom and quickly become the talk of the town.

Little do the gang realise, the Michael is in fact the carer to a young orphaned heiress Doris Merrik, and he plans to use the seances as a means of terrifying Doris into handing her fortune over to Michael…aannd thats kind of where I got a bit lost here honestly, a chap named Jimmie turns up at some point and I think he tries to convince Zara that the pair of them should try and convince Doris to hand her wealth over to them…But I think I must have missed some key plot points because the final act moves SO fast that i pretty much ended up confused right up till the final 10 minutes when it all slotted back into place and a resolution came about which was blunt, and kind of limp.

Its a shame really, because I really liked the opening act of this film, but something goes amiss partway into the second act and I just couldnt find my thread on it right up until the end.

What I can say is that while the pacing and plotting goes a bit arwy in the middle, the opening and closing acts are fairly solid, even if the ending is a bit underwhelming. The cast, given their obscurity are fantatic physical performers.

I really appreciated that this film was partially audioscaped, giving us almost no dialogue (barring a singing sequence) but giving us all the atmospheric tracks and any diagetic noises within the scene. Which I think was a very nice touch. and visually, I think I preferred this over the other Browning feature on this set ‘The Unknown’. its crisp, the visual effects and lighting are genuinely eerie in places and etherial. the thing feels wonderfully spooky in places and the direction is more than up to Brownings usual efforts.

I think the fact this film lay forgotten for so many years is quite bizarre given how technically interesting it is at times. While the plot is a bit of a muddle, the performances are largely very good and the whole film gets a BIG boost with its newly written score composed in 2023 by Dean Hurley.

One i’ll probably have to rewatch to firm up my feelings on it, Now I know the tone its going for, I think i’ll be able to give it the best chance on a rewatch. But as far as ‘Silent Era’ cinema goes? I thought this was pretty decent.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-mystic/

A late night silent feature before bed, and a latter day offering from Tod Browning, ‘The Unknown’ is the film he made just before ‘London After Midnight’ and while the plot itself is maybe a bit simplistic, its a pretty engaging watch all things considered.

The plot is set in Madrid as we open following a travelling circus and we’re introduced to Alonzo and Nanon. Alonzo has no arms, and his performance in the circus involves shooting at Nanon on a rotating platform using only his feet to hold and fire the pistol.

Nanon herself is traumatised by men caressing and touching her, to the point that ANY man laying hands on her instantly makes her recoil in fear and horror. As such, she befriends Alonzo telling him that he is the kind of man she’d ultimately like to marry. However, Nanon is also attracting the attention of the circus strong man Malabar, who is friends with Alonzo, but doesnt really know how to approach Nanon, as he is also aware of her fears. Alonzo spends lots of time with Nanon and begins developing strong feelings for her too.

The plot twist? Alonzo is actually a criminal on the run, who is using a corset to hide the fact that he actually DOES have arms, but to reveal that would not only scare off Nanon, but permanently label him a liar, not to mention outing him as a murderous thug.

At first he considers all the workarounds he could do to ensure Nanon never finds out about him being fully armed. Before settling on the logical solution, he pulls Nanon out of the circus with himself after a particulary violent altercation with the ringmaster. before dissapearing to threaten a doctor into surgically removing his arms, so that he can be with her. The OTHER big plot twist? while he’s off doing that Malabar realises the pair have left the circus and finds Nanon and decides to keep her company while Alonzo is missing, and over time the pair grow close, and eventually agree to marry each other when Alonzo returns (womp womp).

I have to be mindful when reviewing silent era cinema that it really was a different time and that a lot of the techniques that make the cinematic experience so enjoyable today, were very much still in their infancy at this time. Because the core plot and concept of this film is very much enjoyable, especially for the silent era. But its a journey and a half to get to the good stuff here.

For a starters, this is the era where, due to the lack of sound, everything has to be spelled out to the audience…LITERALLY, via caption cards. which makes simple conversations take an age. And because, at this point, the audience wernt trusted to put the dots together within a visual medium (this film came out the same year as ‘Metropolis’) everything has to be explained in painful detail, overexplained to the point that, as someone with chronic concentration problems, I could happily sit on my phone while this played out and dip in in 5 minute chunks and literally not miss a beat of the plot.

The plot as it stands is a wonderfully dark romance with horror elements at play which tonally, I found very satisfying. I like how it shows the slow breakdown of Alonzo and thought the other characters were all really solidly written and developed for this era of cinema. However, the pacing is glacial at times, and while the plot is fairly straightforward, you WILL be dragged into recaps of the plot pretty regularly across the runtime. which is a real shame. I could see this being an amazing modernized adaptation, maybe as an hour long TV special or something similar, it has a very ‘high level’ tone to it that I liked, and I think would still have an appeal to a modern audience if it were to be modernised and adapted.

The direction and cine is very pretty, for the time it must have been kind of spectacular…well, until ‘Metropolis’ redefined cinema as a medium…BUT! for a brief window it must have been quite spectacular! with some really solid sequence building and some decent set pieces and location work.

Its really the performances here that shine the brightest with Lon Chaney really stealing the show as Alonzo, doing frankly masterful work with purely physical movements alone. I defy anyone to watch his performance in the 3rd act of this production and not be absolutely captivated by just how raw and powerful his emotions are on screen. Its superb honestly. Thats not to snub an early appearence from Joan Crawford as Nanon who equally works a great range here, delivering powerful responses as she is subjected to increasingly traumatic experiences.

All in all? I dont think this one will have the power to pull in audiences in the same way that more widely regarded silent era pictures would. But theres a lot to like in this 68 minute feature. Its a decent B-picture for Brownings masterwork ‘Freaks’ and I think the pair would double feature well if your audience is open enough to silent era cinema.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-unknown/

Im going to be honest here, I have NO idea what this film was actually about, and didnt much care for it. I had more fun riffing it with friends than experiencing a film ‘too horrifying’ to feature footage from it in its trailer.

It was all over the place, messy, and ended unsatisfactorally.

Traumatika? More like ‘Narkoleptika’ Hard pass.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/traumatika/

Watched on Tuesday August 19, 2025.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-we-wish-you-a-turtle-christmas/4/

Well, after clinging on to a bootleg of this movie for the better part of a decade, then upgrading to Vinegar Syndromes official DVD release a couple of years ago. They finally released this film as part of a triple bill boxset on Bluray this year, allowing me an affordable way to upgrade to HD without trying to grab their ‘Five Years, Five Films’ set which is LONG out of print.

I dont really have much more to say other than it is a BIG improvement over the DVD release, colours pop way more, it looks and sounds significantly better. and im glad I picked this up. Still a firm favourite just for how bizarre and silly it is, I’d say its more than worth checking out.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hot-saucy-pizza-girls/1/

At the time it premiered on ABC, The Night Strangler was officially the most watched TV movie ever broadcast in the United States. Indeed, just before its premeire on television, the producer had serious regrets that he didnt push for this to recieve a theatrical screening… and having sat down to watch it tonight as part of an upcoming collaboration. I can totally appreciate why.

So this was essentially a TV movie that was acting almost as a potential pilot for a TV series. the Premise is that our hero Carl Kolchak is an investigative reporter who drifts around the states investigating and reporting on supernatural or science fiction related crimes often with unusual motives or twist endings…A series WOULD eventually get comissioned in 1974 titled ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’ But this film really is a proof of concept, and its a doozy and a half.

So the film opens with a series of bizarre murders happening in Las Vegas. Women are turning up essentially dumped in allys and on drainage routes physically fine, but completely drained of blood. Noones really keen to pick up the case, so Kolchak gets pulled in off his first vacation in years to investigate. and after doing some digging. Hes a bit lost for an answer. The killer appears to have superhuman strength, looks deathly pale and, whatever he’s using to drain his victims blood, the signs are that its done in less than a minute, that its being done via suction, and that human saliva has been found in the blood of the victims when found.

Kolchak can only really assume one thing…that the killer is either a vampire, or THINKS he’s a vampire…Of course when he attends a police briefing and says this, the police almost laugh him out of the room, before very seriously telling him to NOT publish ANY details about the blood sucking, or to mention ANYTHING about the vampirism…as they dont want to upset the public and err…cost businesses any earnings.

But you cant keep a good dog down, and Kolchaks convinced he’s onto something. and it eventually pays off, when he comes face to face with the killer who, right in front of him, gets shot over a dozen times at point blank range, and can outrun a flank of police cars…Kolchak becomes convinced he’s investigating a living breathing vampire. and when even the law cant seem to figure out how to stop the guy. Kolchak may wind up being their only hope in stopping the brutal murders…

And Ive got to be honest, this one surprised me. its got a kind of dragnet, ‘New Noir’ vibe to it, and it seems to be ahead of its times in many regards, the script contrasts some dark and tongue in cheek humour from Kolchak with actually quite dark subjects which I felt balanced each other quite well. theres a seedy political undercurrent that had heavy notes of the political elements of ‘Jaws’ to me. but predating Jaws by almost 4 years. theres some nice slow burn twists and turns, some surprising downer moments which helped keep a certain sense of pathos. The pacing is pretty much non stop (barring an extended scene walking around a house in the 3rd act which was a bit hard going).

But on the whole? for 1972/73, to see something like this meld together the noir and supernatural horror genres was refreshing to say the least. Yes. the characters are all utterly stereotypical to any Noir film from the 30s to the 50s you’ve ever seen. But that, if anything works in the films favour, cultivating a a nice contrast to the 70s funkadelic vibes, which are very much in full swing here. In short; it balances its tone, pacing and act structuring near perfectly, and clocking in at just over 70 minutes. Its all lean and no fat. which is EXACTLY how I like it.

The direction is incredibly strong, especially given this was only intended as a television feature. its incredibly cinematic and theatrical in its aspirations, and i’d say for the most part it succeeds in its goals. John Llewellyn Moxey by this point was a veteran of this kind of noir/ cop show production, and still had many MANY more good years left in him. and here? He’s in his element and firing on all cylinders, delivering a creative and vibrant piece carefully utilising all aspects of lighting, sound, vision and a superb cast.

The cine too is lush, vibrant and detailed, while its maybe a little *too* grounded in the world of TV for its own good, when it does stretch out and try to go a bit more ‘bigger screen’ it succeeds in spades, and while it may not have been as breathtaking viewed on a 10 inch screen back in 1972, watching a HD scan of it on a 50 inch 4k screen in 2025 is breathtaking in places to say the least. With my only grumbles really being that some scenes really needed just a bit more B-roll, and that some sequences do beging to get a bit plodding (im assuming for the sake of curating runtimes to allow for commercial breaks)

But on the whole? this is a solid edit, with some brilliant visuals that really help sell the dark and strange worlds Kolchak is and will continue to find himself falling into.

Performance wise, its a clean run with Darren McGavin as Kolchak playing the role with levity, but cunning. Its kind of like a diet Columbo turn, with Kolchak being able to gently rib the police and anyone in authority pushing back on him, without having the luxury of a detectives badge to get him in and out of confidential locations. McGavin plays this role carefully and very nicely, bringing a charm and warmth to the character that could have been blunted in other hands. I think he does a superb job here, with a good level of physicality and a clear eagarness to use the set space and frame as effectively as possible.

Credit also has to go to Barry Atwater who plays our mysterious bloodsucking villain. hes intimidating, unsettling, and the revelations about him through the runtime only help to build his character up as someone not to be messed with. Something Atwater really runs with, playing arguably one of the better vampire performances i’ve ever seen.

All of this is cushioned in with a supporting cast who fit the bill perfectly, and…like I said, while they dont exactly break the mould of the noir cop drama style. the fact this is infused with that otherworldly supernaturalism, really helps give this film a boost in ways that I dont think had really been covered up to this point.

The Night Stranglers inspiration was from TV productions like ‘The Twiglight Zone’ and it went on to heavily inspire 90s TV gold ‘The X Files’ and ‘Twin Peaks’ to an extent. and I can absolutely see why, this is a very engaging, very intreaguing and ultimately quite satisfying TV movie. And im really going to have to try and find this one on bluray at the next possible convenience. MUST see, maybe save this one for Early October, and thank me later!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-night-stalker/

A short but sweet one here, we have an adaptation of an adaptation on our hands. A picture book from early 1986 got adapted into direct to VHS ‘animated’ narrated picture book, just in time for Christmas of the same year.

What do I mean when I say ‘Animated picture book’ I mean that the picture books dialogue was expanded or reworded slightly to better fit a video medium, they got the illustrator of the picture book (H.W Lewis) to redraw some scenes and draw some new illustrations to help fill in the gaps. and the whole thing is presented as a series of still images utilising digital moves, zooms and video effects to give the illusion of minimalist animation. While Kelly Mcgillis narrates the story.

the plot involves a snowy white bear who gets seperated from his family during a fishing hunt, and winds up lost in the woods, where he meets a small girl named Maria who lives in a cabin not far from where the Bear landed. She takes him in, teaches him about the human world and most importantly about Christmas. But when a crisis strikes! our little bear will have to go out into the woods alone to find firewood to save his new friends from certain peril!

Its a gentle story with a lot of very heartwarming and emotional moments. I enjoyed this story, and could easily see it being a firm favourite in a kids library. Its a big christmassy hug of a story that I enjoyed.

The narration is fine enough, though I dont quite feel like it really went the extra mile. It does the job, it wasnt bad…its just kind of fine.

I think the thing that holds this short back more than anything else is just the fact that, while the illustrations are some of the most adorable stuff i’ve ever seen in my life (HOW these illustrations didnt become a merch mine, I’ll NEVER know…) its hard to really, truely get into the story when all the screen is showing is static images that occaisonally move left to right, or zoom in and out…or at MOST have a, not particularly great ‘snowfall effect’ overlayed over the top of it.

This short kind of reminded me of Raymond Briggs ‘The Snowman’ but without the horrifying gutpunch finale. Just all charm, all the way…and i’d love to see this get re-adapted in a way that uses this art style, but maybe fully reworks the story into a linear short film with actual animation done in this style. I think it could be a very powerful thing. But as it stands, it feels a bit like a proof of concept that didnt get approved for full animation.

I’ve seen what they do with the sequel animation wise…and good lord. talk about a downgrade…but yeah! Will this hold kids attentions in the year of our lord 2025…probably not, maybe if they have the actual picture book in their hands, and they’re reading along with a parent or something like that. But this is just aching to be a nicely animated 30 minute tv special…rather than a semi-animated digital book.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/santabears-first-christmas/